Due cuori in cielo

Ethel Waters, you hear her singing style in almost all early singers from the late 20's and 30's. Mildred Bailey, Billie Holiday. She had the clearest voice and such enunciation. She was a miserable woman tho and thats why you never hear other singers give her praise. In this film her singing is as tear jerking today as it was on those old 78's. She sings and you understand every word and in this movie you even can see her do a little shimmy for which she was renowned for early in her career. A great cast. Lena is superb as always and Bubbles from the vaudevillian team "buck and bubbles" along with earl snake hip tucker. These are Harlem legends that ruled 133rd street (the real swing street) in their day. My mother never tires of this movie as she was a devout Ethel fan all her life (she was born in 1923) so she grew up listening to this legend. Get this bit of American history

This exquisite first film by Vincente Minnelli just came out on DVD along with another all-Black musical of the period starring Lena Horne, "Stormy Weather". As delightful as both those films are, and although they are produced by two different companies, their DVD presentation is marred by audio commentaries by the very same Dr. Todd Boyd, Professor of critical studies at USC. To call the man a pompous bore would be to imitate him by stating the obvious. These commentaries, which are all about painfully deconstructing every single aspect of the racial clichés and supposedly harmful depictions of Black people contained in those films and are full of precious profundities like "Notice how the dancers smile too much, which is a hateful racial stereotype", were evidently put together in a commendable spirit of political correctness. Unfortunately, the good Doctor has a tendency to repeat every worthwhile point he makes at least five times and is totally blind to the wonderful qualities of those films, with the end result that he robs the viewing experience of all joy, discovery, wonderment and spontaneity. He also fails to point out the qualities and positive aspects of each production and is totally unreliable when it comes to identifying wonderful performers (and performances) who will otherwise remain eternally nameless, undocumented and unpraised. The harm done is less pronounced on the "Cabin in the Sky" DVD, where his debunking and killjoy duties are somewhat mitigated by the presence of his colleague Prof. Drew Casper, who is at least knowledgeable about the films of Minnelli, and relatives of Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, who do a good job describing the human side of the real star of the film. "Cabin in the Sky" is one of the best fantasy-comedy-musical films ever made and boasts some of the best stage and recording talents of the XXth Century. When you watch it, do yourself a big favour: Enjoy it for what it is - a masterpiece - and turn Professor Boyd's platitudes off!!!

This wonderful musical has a LOT going for it: a great cast of noted black actors from stage and screen, songs by Vernon Duke and Harold Arlen, the directorial debut of Vincent Minnelli, etc. But above all, you have a chance to see and hear the matchless singer/actress Ethel Waters in top form, and perhaps begin to understand why many consider her the greatest and most influential jazz/pop vocalist of all time...yes, every great singer who came later, including Sinatra, Billie Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, etc. had a style which came out of Ethel Waters...and that goes as well for her beautiful co-star in this film, Lena Horne. A must for fans of musicals, jazz, and great music!

I must admit, as a support to the Harlem Renaissance, I show this film to my students. No child has ever been left unaffected at seeing this film. What a wonderfully touching film. It addresses real issues of today in a yesterday atmosphere. The cinematography is somewhat lacking, but for the 1940s that is of no diminish to the beauty of this film. In addition, it is yet a marker to the contribution of the African American to the film industry and well worth the title of one of life's best kept African American secrets. The actors in the film also warrant acclaim for this. This all person-of-color film is so lovely, emotion filled and real, who would not want to spend their time evaluating its worth? As a 7th grade Language Arts instructor who is greatly proud of her heritage and the contributions my ancestors and friends have made, I am indeed proud of this cinematic star-studded glimpse of the past. And, I still cry every time I watch it today...

Cabin in the Sky marks the debut of director Vincente Minnelli, one of cinema's greatest and most prolific directors of musicals. Already an experienced stage director, pianist and perhaps most importantly of all a painter, Minnelli came to Hollywood as the protégé of lyricist-turned producer Arthur Freed – one of the most significant names in the development of the screen musical.

Although this is one of his cheaper productions (as evidenced by the simplicity of the sets and the use of borrowed footage) Cabin in the Sky is no exception to the typical Freed pattern of assembling a wide variety of musical talent. Here we get to enjoy virtually all the biggest names in black entertainment of the day – the gorgeous singing voice of Ethel Waters, the musicianship of Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong, the dancing of Bill Bailey and John William Sublett, to name just a few. With this line-up, Cabin in the Sky was bound to be a great show, but it was also likely to fall into the same trap as many of the Freed musicals – that you might have a great variety show, but not a unified, coherent musical.

This is somewhat the case here, especially as the story is rather flimsy and clichéd. What saves it is Freed's firm belief in the integrated musical (every song woven into the plot) and Minnelli's inventive direction. Freed more or less gave Minnelli free rein over the staging of the musical numbers. Whereas in many of the earlier musicals there is a very conscious break in style whenever a song begins, in Cabin in the Sky each number flows seamlessly into the action. For example, in "Happiness Is a Thing Called Joe", Ethel Waters' singing begins with no prior cues to the audience that a song is about to start. The narrative then leaps ahead to her hanging out the washing while the song continues. The number finishes with Rex Ingram and his Buddy appearing from behind a sheet, leading us into the next scene. The narrative has not taken a break for the song – it has continued alongside it.

Also in evidence is Minnelli's graceful visual style. Minnelli, with his painter's eye, delicately frames his subjects with doorways and overhanging branches. You can also see his developing talent for movement flowing in and out of the frame, particularly in the "Li'l Black Sheep" number in the church. Perhaps the most typical "Minnelli" moment is in the large group shot that he puts together for the title song, the camera pulling out to reveal the whole crowd as the singing reaches a crescendo. For all its beauty though, it does seem to be a rather strained effort, and in his later pictures he would stage sequences that were far more complex and yet looked far more effortless.

A quick word about the actors. While most of the cast were hired more for their ability to sing or dance than anything else, those of them taken on purely as actors are nevertheless a joy to watch. Rex Ingram gets to do what he does best in an extravagant performance as "Lucifer Jr.", and is almost as scene-stealing as he was as the genie in Thief of Bagdad. And Butterfly McQueen's role may be small, but at least she really gets to act here, rather than appearing as a comic relief funny voice.

The songs too are wonderful. The Arlen/Harburg numbers which were written especially for the film version are not as good as anything they did for Wizard of Oz, but then what is? The real highlights though are the original Vernon Duke/John La Touche songs, especially the sublime "Taking a Chance on Love", and it's a shame these two barely made a splash in musicals.

In spite of all this, Cabin in the Sky is still best enjoyed as a series of performances. It is wonderful to watch, not least because it is a showcase for the talents of a whole group of entertainers who made far too few screen appearances, but it doesn't stand up as a musical in its own right.